The present invention relates generally to an adaptor handle for wheeled vehicles and more particularly to wheeled vehicles of the type propelled by hand, such as wheelchairs.
Wheeled vehicles of the type to be considered with the present invention include wheelchairs, perambulators or baby carriages, supermarket trolleys, shopping carts, and the like, but the invention is not restricted to application to these devices and may be applied to general devices of the type discussed below. The type of wheeled vehicle particularly suited for the present invention comprises a wheeled vehicle having two spaced-apart handles extending from the vehicle adapted to enable the vehicle to be pushed along utilizing the handles to apply propulsion.
A problem exists, however, when a person has only one free hand to propel such a wheeled vehicle. In such instances, pushing on only one handle of the wheeled vehicle makes the vehicle very difficult to propel and particularly difficult to steer in confined areas, such as supermarket aisles and crowded streets where considerable damage could be caused by inadvertent mis-steering.
In recognizing the inherent deficiencies associated in the art, an adaptor handle was developed which extends between the pair of handles of a vehicle and allows a central hand grip to be utilized to readily propel and steer the vehicle with only one hand. This particular adaptor handle is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,357, issued on Nov. 24, 1987 to Mavis Soderbaum, which Letters Patent has been assigned to the subject inventor. The Soderbaum adaptor handle, although comprising a substantial improvement in the art, has proven difficult to readily accommodate the differing size of handle grips utilized on conventional wheeled vehicle and wheelchair devices. As such there exists a need in the art for an improved adaptor handle which may be rapidly mounted upon a wheeled vehicle and further accommodates the multitude of differing sized handle grips utilized in conventional wheeled vehicles.